Choked
by Dookaller
Summary: Yugi and the gang decide to have a party just for the hell of of it. Everything seems to be going along swimmingly until someone suggests they play spin the bottle. No one will ever know all of what really happened that night, but the point is, Joey is going to be a lot more careful about what he eats from now on.


Téa's house was spotless. Not that is wasn't always clean, Yugi noticed to effort and told her, "The house looks very nice, Téa."

There was a party table set out in the middle of her living room with bowls of chips and bottles of soda, so Yugi figured he'd set the cookies he brought there. Yugi was really excited that they were doing this: having a party just for the hell of it. He couldn't remember the last time they did something like this and the best part was there were no high expectations. If for whatever reason it wasn't the greatest party, it wouldn't ruin someone's birthday or New Year's.

They rarely went to Téa's house, usually opting for Yugi's despite it being smaller, because it was close to the school and had the game shop in it. But they had wanted somewhere a little more spacious, and Téa's parents had promised to stay out of the way.

They had invited everyone, even Marik, to which he had replied, "Um, I don't know if you realize this but… I live in Egypt…" And Mai had never gotten back to them.

"I brought artichoke dip," Bakura said, placing a bowl on the table filled with a white and green substance. "Might be a bit much for just us," Bakura shrugged.

Joey and Tristan, who had been there early because Yugi had told them to, only to find Yugi arriving right on time, were already starving. They leapt over to inspect the dip.

"Artichoke dip, huh? Smells fishy," Tristan said.

"It smells nothing like fish," Yugi said reaching over them for a cup.

"Not what he meant Yug…" Joey followed looking almost too closely at the dip.

"Hey Bakera? What the heck is in this?" Tristan asked.

"I told you, it's artichoke dip, haven't you ever had an artichoke?"

"Oh, those flower looking things? Yeah, I've had 'em."

"There's flowers in here?!" Joey asked again getting way too close to the dip, closing one eye as though that would help him spot the flowers.

"Nah, Joe, it's a vegetable." Tristan told him.

"Ew─" Yugi jabbed Joey with his elbow before he could finish saying something rude.

Téa had left the room as they talked, and upon returning she said, "My dad says the pizza will be here at 5."

Everyone else seemed fine with this, but Joey and Tristan looked at each other with less than thrilled glances.

"Well," Tristan said picking up a chip, "my mom's always telling me to try new things." He got a big glob of the dip on his chip and stuck it his mouth as quickly as he could.

"Yeah… So's my old man, but I don't think this is what he was talking about," Joey said hesitating but trying it in the end. "This is like really good Bakura! Did you make this?" Bakura nodded blushing slightly. "It's like, better than onion dip… do you think I would like artichokes?"

"Probably Joey… Probably." Yugi said eating a cookie.

An hour later everyone was sitting on Téa's couch or on the floor chatting and Joey and Tristan had eaten the entire bowl of artichoke dip.

"Hey," Yugi said getting the attention of the whole room, "We should play a game."

"What, like Duel Monsters?" Joey asked.

"No, like a party game."

"Party game?" Téa giggled, "Like spin the bottle?"

At first Yugi blushed but then a subtle grin washed over his face that was suspiciously evil. "Yeah… or 7 minutes in heaven."

"Yugi…" Tristan started to say, a little unnerved.

"Duke and Serenity aren't here yet, if we play games, shouldn't we wait for them?" Bakura asked.

"Did Duke say he was coming?" Téa wondered to Yugi.

"Sort of…" Yugi said.

"What about Serenity?" Tristan asked.

"Last I checked, she was still on the fence about it. Long trip for her, ya'know? Besides, I'd rather we didn't involve her in any such games…" Joey said, looking over at Tristan.

"What?" Tristan asked. Joey continued to look. "WHAT?!"

"Guys, let's play," Yugi interrupted.

"Yugi, I don't know if this is such a good idea… I mean there's only one girl here." Joey gestured at Téa.

"That's what'll make it funny," Yugi replied.

"You think he's planning something?" Tristan whispered.

"I don't know if Yugi is capable if that type of thing." Joey whispered back. Yugi frowned slightly. Everyone could hear them. "Téa, please tell Yugi this isn't a good idea."

"I don't know, it could be fun."

"You just don't care 'cause everybody else is a guy." Tristan said offhandedly.

"That's not true. I thought we were playing 7 minutes in heaven. It's just a few minutes in the closet. It doesn't have to be a big… thing…"

"What do you think Bakera?" Tristan said, turning to him.

"It doesn't matter to me. I can go either way." They tried to hold it in but the whole room slowly started to snicker and laugh. "What? What?! Oh… That is not what I meant!" Bakura said, not being able to keep from laughing himself.

"Okay, it's settled, we're playing." Yugi said getting up to get a half empty soda bottle to use to match people up. "Everybody sit in a circle."

They all sat down on the floor of Téa's living room near the coat closet. "Who wants to go first?" Téa asked. No one volunteered. Not even Yugi. Yugi seemed much more keen to let someone else go and Joey realized Yugi just wanted to laugh at others getting paired up oddly. Maybe even tease them about it. It was the tiny part of Yugi, that's inside everyone, that's just a bit of a bully.

But when no one would go, Téa said, "No body? No body, really? Okay, I'll go first," and the keenness in Yugi's eyes faltered.

Téa spun the bottle hard and it went around several times, almost coming back to her. Almost. But it ended up just a bit to her left, and Yugi was sitting to her left.

"Oh. Yugi." Téa said.

"Um, I don't know if this is a good idea, not to say that I don't want to-I mean, not to say that I _do_ want to! But even if we did want to, this wouldn't be a very good─"

"Yugi get in the closet." Téa demanded rolling her eyes. This had been _his_ idea after all.

"WOO!" Tristan yelled.

Joey whistled, before saying, "Yeah! Get some!" Yugi's face started to redden.

"But hurry, only got 7 minutes!" Tristan said.

"Aw, that's enough time!" Joey said. Yugi almost gasped. It may have sounded like boyish encouragements but they knew just how to make Yugi feel inadequate and uncomfortable.

"This backfired on me," Yugi said to Téa.

"Sure that's plenty of time! Get in there and make her your─"

"Tristan, that's going a little far."

"What? I was just gonna say yours."

"Oh."

"Oh, boys," Bakura cut it. "I'm sure nothing will happen."

"Yep! You're probably right Bakera." Tristan agreed obnoxiously.

"Yeah, I mean it's Yugi," continued Joey.

Suddenly they heard the closet door shut and Téa say from inside, "Uh, time us I guess."

Yugi stood inside with his arms crossed.

"It's a little hypocritical of you to be angry with them. You suggested the game."

"Yeah, I know… why was this game invented? I mean, I guess to get to make out with someone you're attracted to, right? But it's all based on chance. I mean you could rig it, so was the game invented to be rigged?"

"Yugi, it was most likely invented by popular girls."

"Oh… so like, they assumed there'd be an abundance of attractive guys at their parties."

"No. Popular girls, Yugi. The game was made for the same reason you suggested it, and the same reason they're enjoying it. To make people feel uncomfortable and laugh at them."

"Oh. That makes sense."

Outside of the closet, they waited.

"So… the weather is good right now, huh?" Tristan said awkwardly.

"Tristan, the weather like, never changes in Domino," said Joey.

"It rained that one time…" Bakura said.

"I shoulda' known this whole party was a bad idea." Yugi said in a monotone.

"Don't get all sulky, I hate it when you get like that. Don't make me hurt you."

"Wow, that makes me feel so much better."

"Nothing is wrong, you're irritable 'cause it's stuffy in here."

"It _is_ stuffy in here."

"Yeah, and we'll be out in a minute, and the pizza will be here soon."

"You're right. The rest of the party will probably be awesome. I should just have a positive attitude. Come on, let's get out of here," Yugi glanced at his watch, "We only have like 30 seconds left anyway."

"30 seconds?"

"Yeah," Yugi replied reaching for the doorknob.

"Hey, Yugi?"

He paused to look back at her and she swiftly kissed him. It didn't last even a second. It was enough for Yugi to say she kissed him, but for her to say it didn't mean anything if need be, and when they walked out of the closet moments later Yugi just stared ahead, a zombie expression on his face and a slight blush.

"What's'a matter, Yugi?" Joey asked obnoxiously. "Tough time in the closet?"

Yugi shook his head and fought a slight smile as he sat down.

"Oh, god…" Tristan rolled his eyes.

"She friggin' kissed him! I can't believe this," Joey said.

"I believe that's a double backfire boys," Bakura laughed.

"I didn't say anything…" Yugi assured them as if that meant she _hadn't_ kissed him. "Why don't you go next Joey?" Yugi handed him the bottle.

"Fine…" Joey thought he had it figured out. It would be the least awkward if he got Téa, or Yugi. So he spun very softly, thinking it wouldn't go too far past a full circle, and would stop around their general area. Unfortunately, he spun so softly it didn't even go a full circle. It stopped just before him.

"Agh… Tristan."

"What?" Tristan had been trying to figure out what that flavor was under his nail and wasn't watching the spin. "Oh…" he said when he looked at the bottle. "Let's go…"

Joey assumed Tristan wasn't putting up a big fight to diminish the amount of fun that could be made. The others still snickered as they went in.

"What are we supposed to do in here for 7 minutes?" Joey asked getting frustrated quickly as usual.

"I don't have to spell this game out for you do I?"

"No, I know the point, but we're not gonna do that… right?!"

"I don't care."

"What? Do you hear yourself? You're not Bakura, it's not funny on you."

"What, I'm just saying I don't care! I'm not so freaked out by what people think that having an experience that means nothing, horrifies me. It's ones that mean something that get me nervous."

"Awww, you get nervous."

"Shut up. Besides, we don't know that it would be awful. There's no way of knowing what it would be like."

"Are you trying to get me to make out with you?"

"No! I'm just saying I don't care, 'cause you're my buddy."

"So just making out with any of your friends is okay with you…"

"Eh…"

"No, it's just me, you wanna make out with me!"

"I do not want to make out with you! It's just I don't feel it would be appropriate to kiss Téa. I guess I wouldn't mind, like if we played real spin the bottle and we had to so it was quick and there were no feelings there, no big, but in here? Weird. And I don't know Bakura that well… and Yugi… I don't know… if Yugi said he was cool with it… It wouldn't be the same as you saying you were cool with it. I guess it's just that Yugi's kinda hard to read sometimes ya'know?"

"Yeah… I'd be scared to kiss Yugi too…"

"… So what you're saying is… You're not scared to kiss me?"

"Can we stop talking about kissing each other?"

"You're so immature."

"I'm immature? Really? Fine, we could try it if you want to so badly." His stomach lurched as he said it. He rubbed it a moment to calm it down before he stood up.

"It's not that I _want _to, like _want _to-want to."

"Whatever man, we should just get it over with if we do it... Should we?" His stomach was flipping, was that normal nervousness or a bad sign?

"Well…" Tristan took a step toward Joey. "My mom is always telling me to try new things."

"Yeah, so's my old man, but I don't think this is what he was talking about..." He looked away as he said it, but then took a step forward so Tristan knew he was on board.

Tristan put his arms around Joey's waist resting his hands on his back just above his belt.

"What are you doing?"

"Uh… what I would do if you were a girl."

"Well that's a little handsy for a first kiss. You should learn yah some manors."

"Oh whatever, man."

"Ugh…" It felt awkward just standing there with his arms limp while Tristan held him so Joey copied him. Except he laced his fingers together behind Tristan's back so he didn't have to try very hard to keep his hand back there.

"There."

"Okay…"

"Okay…"

"Tristan, do it."

"You do it."

"You were the one… ugh…" They both looked away from each other in frustration for a moment, though they still held on. Finally they both looked back and Joey leaned in close enough for them to kiss. It was like they both just rested their faces against a brick wall. Tristan tried to change that by moving a bit, but his movements were too large and random so Joey reached up and grabbed the side of his face to get him not to move so much. His stomach was starting to give him pain. Tristan took the hand to his face as some sort of advancement and put _his_ hand on the side of _Joey's_ face. He tilted Joey's head up trying to pull his jaw down with his thumb but Joey didn't understand and it didn't budge. Tristan then started licking Joey's face.

"Tristan, agh what are you doing? Mh stop."

"Cause you have to open your mouth, stupid."

"Uew, no way." Joey looked down, his heart was beating fast and his stomach aching. He breathed open mouthed, letting his eyelids go half lidded for a moment.

"Ugh, Joey." Joey looked up at him, his eyelids still low and his mouth still agape. Tristan thought this face meant for him to continue. Joey didn't stop him when he moved in, he just forgot to close his mouth.

"MMMMmmmmm." Joey moaned, but not in a good way. "Stop doing that with your tongue. Ahummmhh. No girl is ever going to─"

"Joey, stop complaining."

"No, you stop it. You're a terrible kisser, you're making me sick."

"Just stay still."

"No, no I'm gonna be sick."

"Drama king."

"No really, I'm gonna be sick." Joey slipped out of Tristan's arms only to end up on his knees on the floor of the closet just in time to vomit.

"Gee. Thank you. I appreciate the accolades. Okay, you made your point. It's got to have been seven minutes by now. Let's get out of here." Joey continued to dry heave on the floor.

"Tristan! Oh, God!"

"Don't be yelling that, man, they'll think somethin' weird."

"Everything okay in there?" They heard Téa ask.

"Uh, no." Tristan open the closet door. "Joey's having an episode…"

"Oh, Goooooddd, my stomach!"

"Joey!" Yugi ran to Joey's side. "Are you okay?"

"Nooooo. Hospitaaaal."

"We should call an ambulance," Bakura said.

"Noooo, ambulances sooo expensivvve."

"Joey, this is hardly the time to worry about money," Yugi chided.

"Dad?!" Téa called, "Can you drive us to the ER?!"

"Right now? The pizza will be here in 10 minutes."

"Yeah, I think the emergency room is more important right now."

"Okay, sweetie."

_Later, in the emergency room where Joey had been ran through rather quickly, mostly because he wouldn't stop moaning and vomiting on the waiting room floor…_

"Well, Mr. Wheeler, you are allergic to artichokes. If you taste a little something with artichoke in it, you should be fine. But you seem to have eaten a lot of artichoke today on a nearly empty stomach," a doctor informed him as he lay resting.

"I'm sorry you had to get your stomach pumped, Joey," Bakura said guiltily.

"It's not your fault…" Joey said rubbing his belly. "But you," he pulled Tristan down by his collar, "Tonight…" he gestured all around as though this simplified the word, "Never again."

"Which part of tonight?" Tristan asked.

"All of it."

"You never want to have a party again, Joey?" Yugi asked.

"Nope. Never."

"But, Joey─"

"Never again."


End file.
